Teacher’s Brain

100th Day of School Ideas

Here are some of my favorite ideas for the 100th Day of School that I use with K-1 students.  Let me know what fun activities you do for this day too!

1.Have student’s send in 100 items from home in zip lock bags to hang in your classroom.

2.Send a parent letter home encouraging students to wear t-shirts with 100 items glued, painted or pinned on the shirt.

3. Wear a t-shirt. Have students put 100 band aids on it, and have it say, “I survived 100th Day, and so did Mrs. ________.

4.Have students dress like they are 100 Years Old.

5. Use an app or web site to make the students look old.  Then let them do a self portrait from the app on drawing paper.

6. Use doughnut shaped cereal to make edible necklaces with yarn.  Have students group them by to using the included work mat.

7.Use Bulletin Board paper to have students design a 100th Day banner or mural to hang in the classroom.

8.Put 100 plastic cups out and let students  build  a building.100th Day of School Activities - 100 Gumballs

9.Put 100 Legos out and let students build a structure.  Then have them write about what they build.

10.Put out 5 different snacks (pretzels, cereal, mini chocolate chips, marshmallows, M&Ms) Have students count out 20 and make a trail mix using the included work mat and a zip lock to take home.

11.Using the printable, have student write 100 words in groups of 10.

12.Students can write about what they would do with 100 dollars.

13.Use the 100 chart to have students count out 100 sweet treats.

14.Use paint daubers to color 10 groups of gumballs using the printable.

15.Make 100th Day Glasses using the printable.100th Day of School Activity Glasses Craft

16.Have student count out 100 drops of water, make predictions and complete the printable.

17.Have students use the printable to make tally marks of 100 licks of a Tootsie Pop.  They can predict if they will get to the tootsie or not.

18.Incorporate fitness by having students do 100 exercises.


Classroom Escape Room Ideas

Get Excited

We all dread seeing our students falling asleep or wanting to escape the classroom out of boredom while we pour our hearts out teaching. Why not spice up your lessons with creating an educational escape room for your little ones?  I’ve seen my own children coming home so excited about the escape rooms or break out boxes that their teachers have created in middle school.  So, I had to figure out how to create this excitement about learning and teamwork in the elementary classroom setting.  It took me some time to wrap my head around how to make it easy enough for a 6 year old, but rigorous enough to meet the benchmarks.  Once I figured it out, it was like magic!

How to Set it UP

Here is an example of how to set one up in your room.  First, think of the topic you want to cover.  Let’s just say this escape room will focus on sight words.  Then, come up with two fun tasks you would like the kids to work on together in order to get a clue.  For example, plastic bags full of letters that will create sight words that are hidden around the room, or a mystery picture to color using sight words to code the color of the picture.  My daughter says that the best part of her escape room experiences (besides opening the box full of treats), was the video they watched as a “hook” that explained a crazy situation of someone capturing them or stealing an item.  (Click HERE for an example of a video hook.)  So, keeping that in mind you can create a little video, or just make up a story.

Clues

I like to separate my students into two groups. Each time the students complete a task, they get the next clue inside of an envelope that I read to the class.  In this case, the class would use the plastic bags letters to solve sight words.  The next clue would lead them to maybe a mystery picture to solve.  Then, they get the last clue which leads them to find a key (either paper or a real one to a box) by reading a riddle for them to solve.  This riddle could have a code to open a lock that you placed on the box.  They will each need their key or code to open the box, which also opens their classroom. They will have to use their imaginations a little.  We don’t want to actually lock them in the classroom.  Once they open the box, I let the students “free” to go to recess or to get a book from the library.  Students are encouraged to work together to help each other solve the problems.  In kindergarten, I used an old shoe box and just pretended to open it with a paper printout of a key.

Extras

You could even add QR Codes, black lights, and magnifying glasses to your escape room to change it around for different lessons.  Students go home talking about how they found sight words to escape their room.  Designing an escape room yourself takes some time, but the benefit is well-worth it!

FREE MINI ESCAPE ROOM

If you are wanting to try an escape room and you have not signed up for my newsletter yet, CLICK HERE to get a free mini escape room sample.

Be that teacher every student remembers because their lesson plans were so engaging with this Escape Room for K-1 focusing on Sight Words.

These exciting classroom escape rooms are available to purchase: 

Sight Word Mystery K-1 (Editable)

Numbers to 10 Pre K-1 Troll Themed

Pirate Mystery COMPREHENSION 1st-3rd

End of the Year Beach Party (save the turtles) K-2

Alphabet Mystery Escape Room Pre K-1

Veterans Day K-5th

Get them all in the First Grade BUNDLE and save $

Primary Teacher Challenge

Do you like free resources?  Do you love to see what other teachers are doing in their classroom, but can’t because you are busy teaching?  Well, I have something fun for you! Go check out my Facebook Page.  Pinned at the top is the video (same video as below) of me explaining how to win free resources by simply sharing one of your fantastic lessons with the rest of us by snapping a quick picture and adding it to comment section with a sentence.  Go check it out to discover the criteria I’m looking for, and hopefully see some other teacher’s lessons for inspiration.  I can’t wait to see what you all are doing with the kiddos!

Winter Olympics 2018 in the Classroom

Are you ready for the 2018 Winter Olympics in your classroom?  It is such an exciting time to be in the classroom and to connect with your students with what they are most likely watching at home.  It is full of history, inspirational stories, and competition.  What’s not to love?  I’m so excited about the Winter Games this year!  Living in Florida, we don’t get to see a lot of snow here, but we love to watch it on television.  I made some Winter Sports Resources designed with your classroom in mind to help them make connections, learn the history of Olympic symbols and traditions, and to create classroom discussions. (Click the photo to LEARN MORE)

Winter Olympics new cover

winter sports interactive notebook cover

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